A Shinobi Life
by Aaron.hamilton13
Summary: The story follows Team 4 a newly formed group and there adventures and hardships as a team. Lots of action, adventure and romance between my own few characters.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The sun was high and beating down furiously on team four; Hiro Miyamoto did not like it. Him and his whole squad were in the training ground, sparing. Neru a tough red head Uchiha and Sano a nimble Zephyr were up and fighting.

Hiro and his teacher Shirro Takai were standing off to the side watching every move his squad mates made. Neru was wielding her Ninja-toe through powerful slashes and Sano was parrying with his large Naganata. Anyone watching could tell they spent to much time fighting one another or with one another because they saw through all of each others feints, tricks, and combos. The fight was dragging on in Hiro's opinion. They had been fighting for around ten minutes and neither one was hardly hurt or out of energy but this was usually around the time one of them would attempt something daring.

Of course Hiro was correct and only a moment later Sano attempted a move he called the double cross kick. It was a move he invented to utilize his speed, Taijutsu skill along with his Naganata. He came in low with the long weapon the blade facing up, then as Neru went to parry he pulled the head up missing her only by millimeters, then he took the dull side of the long pole and jammed it into the ground. He used it to prop himself up and with all his speed twisted his body and sent two kicks at her midsection. Both kicks connected right on target and sent Neru flying back several meters.

Neru went with the blow and rolled backwards onto her feet. She coughed up a little blood but had a wide grin. She closed her eyes for only a second to call upon her clans blood power the Sharingan. She had only managed to control the most base form of the Sharingan but it still gave her an edge especially against Sano who's clan also had a blood power, they could use chakra to speed up every process in there body allowing them to move especially fast on top of there already impressive speed; although it often drained stamina quickly.

Sano now had a drained look on his face, and Hiro did not blame him because going up against an Uchiha especially one who wielded the mighty Sharingan was dangerous.

Next to Hiro his Sensei Shirro nudged him on the shoulder and said

"Keep a close watch on both of them because this could get intense" then he gave a quiet chuckle. Hiro listened and concentrated fiercely on his squad mates.

Neru brought her Ninja-toe up and bent down in a low stance. Hiro knew this stance it was her favorite and he had lost to it many times. On the other side of the field Hiro watched Sano stretch his legs and spin his Naganata around himself then end the spin in a stiff downward slash. They were both now ready. Sano was always more impatient than either Hiro or Neru and Neru played that in her advantage. Sano dashed forward with all the speed he could muster through his clan's blood power. Hiro had a hard time keeping up with is comrade but he knew that Neru's eyes were following every step. Quickly and in one fluid motion Neru lunged forward and shifted her Ninja-toe from her right to left hand, the skill and precision was of a high caliber. Sano did not see it coming and would have been impaled by his squad mate's blade had there Sensei not moved in and caught the blade.

The dust settled and Hiro saw the final picture, Sano on the right blinking at an empty spot where his Naganata should have hit Neru, Sensei Shirro in the middle holding out Neru's blade, and Neru looking pissed that her thrust had been stopped and deflected despite the fact she probably would have killed Sano.

It took Hiro a moment to realize that his Sensei had moved faster than either of his comrades and much faster than Hiro himself could have seen.

Sensei Shirro dropped his grip on Neru's blade looked down at his students grimaced face and smiled then said

"Good job". She stood up straight sheathed the weapon on the scabbard that sat horizontal on her back. He knew she would be upset at him for stopping it and probably for moving faster than her eyes could follow – just like a typical Uchiha way of thinking – but if he had not then his other student would have died or at least been deathly injured. He watched as both of them swatted the dust of there dark gray tunics. The tunics were his idea they made thought it made the squad look more like a team and helped for hiding in the shadows.

He walked back to where he left Hiro standing, his eyes propped open attempting not to miss any of the action and who had probably been blown away by the speed Shirro had produced. He laughed to himself then turned and said "We are gonna take five then I want Hiro up against Neru" he turned to see the look on Hiro's face, it was priceless. He knew that after all that Hiro thought he would not stand a chance but Shirro knew that Hiro had more natural skill than either of his other students.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The five minutes Hiro's Sensei had given his team to rest was nearing its end and he was kind of scared to have to be going up against Neru after that display. It also did not help that he had always had a crush on her sense they had been placed on a squad together and he first saw her magnificent skill. He looked over at his squad mate Sano who lay sprawled out on a patch of grass and who looked pissed that he got bested by Neru he always had a disliking for her and her eyes.

Hiro knew that Sano was fast, was always the fastest at the academy and he was bested by Neru so what hope did that leave for him?

Sensei Shirro stood up of the ground and said

"okay times up guys" then he slapped Hiro on the back and added "good luck" with a wide sly smile. Neru finished drinking some water she had then straitened up her tunic and walked to the center of the training ground. Hiro just gulped, turned to look back at Sano hoping to get some kinda of encouraging look but Sano had barely managed to sit up and had a blank expression. With that on his mind he walked slowly out to the center of the training ground a few paces from Neru. She had one hand propped on her sword hilt and she was showing a wide smile. He was not sure if she was smiling at him or at the possible easy victory she would have over him. He closed his eyes for a split second, inhaled then exhaled.

As soon as his eyes opened he saw her smile fade into an expression of confidence and her blade pulled skillfully quick out of its sheath. She lunged for his head and Hiro managed to duck and sweep his leg for a trip attempt. She cartwheeled over his leg and started down with a powerful vertical swing. Hiro tucked in his leg and rolled forward feeling the air being cut from his squad mates blade. He turned and jumped back to his feet only to see his comrades blade thrusting toward his head again. He dodged to the left and dashed inward, which was daring for him. He twisted his body elbowing Neru across the nose, and grabbing for her arm in one motion. He grasped powerfully and twisted his hips flipping her through the air and slamming her across the ground. He never like using weapons and was now attempting to even that disadvantage. She bounced lightly off the ground her grip on her Ninja-toe loosening. Hiro quickly kicked the sword to the side.

They both were still in the center of the field, both Sano and Shirro were standing on the edge of there toes watching the fight; Hiro could feel there gaze. Neru was bleeding from the nose and pissed. Hiro knew he needed to end this quickly now, so he went for a quick knockout punch downward for her head. It did not work. She tuck herself inward then rolled her legs up across her chest and unloaded like a spring both her feet coming up to contact Hiro's face. She was dead on and sent him flying through the air. He fell on his back a few yards from the center of the field and tumbled on his back and was barely able to stand. His face hurt like hell. His vision was a little blurry and he could barely make out Neru making hand signs from across the field. Before Hiro could act quick enough to stop her she was drawing in a breath and blowing out a giant ball of flame. Hiro back flipped twice then got blown off balance by the concussion of air as the fire blasted forward. It had missed him by a centimeters.

Hiro took a second to breath in and ran his hand through his sweat soaked black hair. His vision was back now and it showed Neru dashing in towards him, he only barely noticed her eyes filled crimson.

He quickly grabbed for a few Shuriken at his belt but there was nothing there. His tool belt had gotten blasted off him from the fire ball. So he reached down into his own body and mind pulled up chakra in a perfect combination with his remaining stamina. He managed to create two shadow clones before the gap between him and her was to dangerous. Instantly both clones flanked in on Neru. One came in punching high and the other came in kicking low. She blocked the punch and spun the clones arm around wrenching it backwards. Then she lifted her leg dodging the sweep kick and retaliated by stomping hard on the shin of the clone. But what she did not expect was for Hiro to charge in himself and missile drop kick her, both is feet flying in for her chest. She barely was able to toss the captured clone in front of herself.

Both shadow clones vanished in a poof of smoke and Hiro rolled back on his feet. Crossing his hands to form the correct hand symbol this time mustering up the chakra for three shadow clones. Normally this would have been a great time to mix in some normal clones to conserve energy but with her eyes she would instantly see right through them. She came in like a fire storm fighting off the three clones but she was in a direct path to something that Hiro needed, his tool belt. He decided on a daring feint. He charged right into the fray and did an over the top high jump kick and like anyone would have expected she ducked flawlessly. He landed on his feet and slide for the tool belt. He pulled out a hand full of Shuriken, a smoke bomb, and a few E-tags. He rapped two tags to respective Shuriken then tossed the smoke bomb into the middle of the fight with now two shadow clones. Quickly the smoke spread around the entire battle. Next he canceled his shadow clone to confuse her even more, then tossed the two Shuriken wrapped in E-tags on either side of the smoke cloud to keep her where here Sharingan was useless. They exploded perfectly in sync and he took one last Shuriken and imbued chakra into it and tossed it straight toward the smoke cloud. Right before it reached the smoke cloud he did the hand symbol for shadow cloning and the Shuriken multiplied into about twenty different copies. He had a smile wide on his face, he was not completely sure it would work. Immediately there was a scream from the center of the smoke cloud and after a second the entire team was heading toward the smoke cloud that was now fading away and sure enough Neru was sitting down a Shuriken sticking out of her shoulder blade.

Hiro even though he had just bested the Uchiha was the first one to bend down and pull out the weapon. She screeched in pain but only for a second. Her eyes were normal again and shinned a deep blue in the high sun. She had a look on her face of not only defeat but of possible humiliation. A moment later a tear started to form at the corner of her eye and she quickly got up and collected herself and stomped away saying

"I am fine". The way she spoke with such a shrill tone embedded into Hiro and he hated hearing her sound that way and never wanted to hear her like that again. Hiro quickly glanced up at his Sensei who was looking away at his injured student but noticed Hiro staring at him and turned his attention else where.

"You did good Hiro" Sensei Shirro said with a I knew you could do it kind of tone.

Soon after that Shirro patched up Neru's wound and they all packed up and headed out toward Sensei Shirro's favorite restaurant, Uahara Ramen and he paid for the team as a you all did well today kind of gesture. They all eat well and went home.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Hiro awoke early the next morning feeling a bit sore. Neru did not speak a word last night at the restaurant and he knew it was because she was beat by him and that almost never happened and it never has happened in a one on one. He replayed through the events in his head and was still astonished with himself but it bought him a little pride.

He took a shower then put on his tunic, tool belt, and Kanoha headband. Today was a special day they got there first B class mission. Now they would be doing something more important than finding cats or delivering unimportant documents which made everyone on the team happy.

After he headed down from his room he found his mother in the kitchen washing dishes. She often just did miscellaneous things around the house nothing ever to adventurous after his father had died. His father use to be a Shinobi who trained at students at the academy but two years ago there was a raid by a few rouge Shinobi from the Village hidden in the Clouds and several civilians and a few low Shinobi were killed. His father had caught one of them men but was poisoned and died when they were found. The capture helped the village but there were still loses. Hiro just wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and become a good Shinobi.

He packed a few last things into his backpack and said good bye to his mom who was sad and knew she was letting him walk out into danger. He took off down the road to through the civilian district up to the main gates where Shirro Sensei had asked them all to meet.

The sun was low and cast a mixture of colors across the sky. The grass was still wet from the morning dew. As he approached the giant red a yellow gates that led out of the village he saw a figure waiting out in the distance. He moved on closer and saw it was Neru. He started walking slower and slower and took his time getting there hoping that either Sano or Shirro Sensei would show up and not make it so awkward. After he got there he noticed she was just looking at the gate, staring so intent yet so distant. After a few minutes of silence he finally found the courage to ask

"Are you okay Neru?". After a few slow moments she finally turned her head and responded

"Yeah..just" She spoke slowly and distantly.

"Hey if it is about yesterday I am sorry" a moment later she started laughing hysterically. That put a confused smile on Hiro's face.

"It is not about yesterday, its just that this will be my first time outside of the village" Hiro sighed with relief and thought long and hard then responded

"Well now that you mention it, its kinda my first time too" she looked long and hard at him as if trying to break some kind of code.

"Well then I guess I just gotta hope that you get put out in front of the squad" she said. He just exhaled slowly and turned to see Shirro Sensei and Sano heading up the road towards them. He turned back at Neru, smiled briefly and then turned back towards his other comrades.

Sano and Shirro Sensei made it to the gate a few minutes later and then after early morning greetings Shirro Sensei pulled out a scroll and read them there mission

"Team four is to cross the west road to Sunagakure and meet up with an intelligence officer who is going to then deliver us a special message that can not be written down and will be sealed away in are minds until we return safely to Konohagakure. Now this mission sounds top secret but the information is something that both Konohagakure and Sunagakure have collected and so we should see no real threats". Sano's eyes glared with frustration, he wanted to fight his way through enemies. Neru was content as usual and she had composed herself now. Hiro felt that the trip outside the village alone was gonna be fun. After a few minutes of letting everything settle into there minds Shirro Sensei added "This will be a five day trip, two days travel there non-stop, one day stay, then two days back non-stop".

The four man team moved out through the gate and jumped up into the gigantic trees that surrounded the land of fire. They traveled from tree to tree for hours and hours seeing a few birds and squirrels. There was no action and nothing worth noting. After twelve hours of traveling the night was getting dark and they stopped to set up camp. They built a fire and set up there own individual spots around the fire. Sano was chosen to cook for this night and he ended up cooking some kind of soup and Hiro found it to taste pretty good. It did not take long for them to all fall asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Hey after this chapter I promise to detail the characters, the surroundings and everything outside of combat a little better.

* * *

><p>Chapter 4<p>

They all slept for six hours, took a soldier pill and started back out through the large forest for about four more hours then they approached the desert. There was very little transition from tree formations to hills of sand and hot wind. Hiro could tell that everyone else in the group thought the same way about the new conditions as he did, and he did not enjoy it at all. They traveled for two more hours and where supposedly half through the desert to Sunagakure and Hiro had no idea how his Sensei knew where they where going and understood why it was called the village hidden in the sand.

As if Shirro had been reading his mind he signaled for the team to stop. They all gathered in a circular pattern close up. The wind was whipping sand everywhere.

"Okay so who can tell me how I know where I am going?" Shirro Sensei asked. Everyone took a second to think it over and finally Neru answered

"Does it have to do with the sun?" and everyone went quiet again for a moment then Shirro responded

"Yes and no, yes because that is how you tell direction but no it is because I have walked this route over a hundred times and used a map the first half just as you probably will" they all laughed for a moment until there was a loud clicking sound to the north of there position. Instantly Shirro hand signaled them all to spread out a few feet and hold position and they all did so.

Shirro walked north about ten meters and then with blinding speed a giant scorpion jumped out of the ground and pounced on team fours sensei. The rest of team four stood still dumbfounded at how easily there Sensei could have gotten taken out. But Hiro was not about to stand around and get killed by a giant scorpion. He signaled for the other two to advance, the hesitated then drew there weapons and moved forward following Hiro.

Hiro was on the right, Neru was in the center, and Sano was to the left, they all advanced slowly. Hiro pulled out a few Kunai and rapped a E-tags around a few of them. The giant scorpion through the body of there Sensei into the air then pierced him with a quick thrust of its giant tale. For a split second as Hiro got a glimpse of the length of the giant scorpion's back he saw the figure of a man. After the giant scorpion seemed to be pleased at the death of Sensei Shirro it turned its sights on the three remaining Shinobi. It started walking on all its legs toward the three of them and Hiro knew he had to do something. He shifted his weight and then formed the hand signs and formed five shadow clones. He hand signaled for a full out attack. All five of his clones burst forward to take the monster head on. Both it's mighty pincers shot forward gripping to the the shadow clones, they burst in a cloud of smoke. Hiro through two Shuriken flanking the giant beast, it dodged to its left but Hiro detonated them prematurely and gave the signal for the others to attack. The beast gave a big screech from the explosions on its side burning its hard exoskeleton. Both Sano and Neru had started on some hand symbols. Despite there natural dislike for one another when they fought together often Hiro thought they were unbeatable. There styles and Jutsu complement one another rather well. Neru released a giant ball of flame toward the massive scorpion and Sano used a similar Jutsu – Wind Release: Air Bullet – a burst of air hit the fire ball and magnified its power ten fold. The Scorpion had attempted to dodge the fire and would have succeed except Sano's Jutsu expanded the fire far beyond the safe range the scorpion had managed. The entire body of the gigantic scorpion went up in flame, gave a high pitched screech and fell over dead shooting up a bunch of sand into the wind. They all stood in awe for a minute, and finally Sano spoke up

"Well that was surprisingly easy" Hiro agreed but remembered that someone was most likely in control and may not have been killed.

"Well I do not think its over yet I saw someone on top riding it and they may not be dead just yet" Hiro said.

Then Neru noticed a small expansion in the send, like something was burrowing through the sand and heading straight for Sano.

"Sano look out!" Neru yelled as loud as she could. Sano glanced down at the ground just in time to notice the tip of a blade shooting out of the ground aimed directly for him. He dodged to the right but the blade managed to graze Sano's left ribs. The wound was deep and he was bleeding. After the attack sand drifted around and settled to reveal a tall lean man wearing a sand colored full body suit. There was no part of his body visible he was completely encased by his suit. Hiro's brain was calculating all the possible paths they had: they could not run, surely this man was faster than any of them, trying to out last or simply over power him head on would not work and he already knew what most of them could do, so they needed a plan a tactical advantage.

"Neru, Sano formation three!" he yelled as loud as he could. Formation three was a standard triangular pattern used for three against one. They all started to dash around in a zigzag style pattern and form around there opponent, who stood there waiting and watching there every move. Hiro could tell Sano was moving slow and losing blood quickly which meant they had to end this quickly.

Sano pulled a scroll out and activated its seal, with a small poof of smoke his Naganata formed, and he slide down to one of his favorite stances. Neru pulled her Ninja-toe from it's sheath and held it reversed, across the length of her arm and bent low to the ground. Hiro never enjoyed fighting much with weapons outside of the standard Kunai or Shuriken but he still had a trick up his sleeve. He reached behind him and pulled out two steel arm guards and slide them snug on his forearms. He took a deep breath, exhaled slowly and gave a nod to his squad mates.

All three moved in on there prey every step in unison. Sano swung first coming in high and from the mans left, Neru came in low from the mans right, and Hiro charged straight from behind aiming for a grapple. With blinding speed the man stepped on Neru's blade sending it digging into the sand, caught Sano's Naganata by the blade and swept a backwards kick at Hiro slamming directly into his head. Neru retaliated with a kick of her own aimed at the tall mans midsection. Sano released his grip on the Naganata and pulsed all the Chakra he could muster into his blood line power increasing his speed. Sano stepped in and started with a flurry of punches for the other side of the mans torso. The man caught Neru's foot and flipped her upside down but got caught off guard by Sano's sudden burst of speed and took several hits to the ribs before, dropping the Naganata and spinning around to meet Sano head on. They were both fast parrying each others fists at blinding speed but eventually Sano's blood lose caught up with him and he started slowing down. The strange man saw the opening and took it, he caught Sano with an uppercut which he then lead with a couple jabs, into a hook, and finished with a full straight right punch to Sano's head. The young boy went down and did not even twitch as he hit the ground.

Hiro felt infuriated by what he just saw, the possible death of another squad mate. He felt himself uncontrollably yelling no at the top of his lunges, and then started to charge his friends killer. The man turned to face his new target and Hiro could feel him smiling wolfishly. Hiro formed three shadow clones, and had transformed one into a Kunai. The man spoke for the first time a low, rough, and evil sounding voice

"Not this again". Hiro and two of his visible clones charged the man head on and he just stood there with his arms open inviting an attack. Right before he came within range of the man he tossed the transformed clone high up into the air and him and both other clones attempted to latch on. The man kicked one clone and and through a Kunai at the other, both went up into smoke. Hiro latched on to his opponent and pulled him down onto the ground, the mans back facing the air. The transformed Shuriken, transformed back into a shadow clone. The man spoke again

"So you tossed yourself up into the air for a sneak attack, but no clone will hold me in place" he proceeded to slam Hiro's head into the ground with great force almost knocking him out.

"I am not a clone what I tossed was" and he gave a small chuckle. The clone in the air tossed a Shuriken and cloned it ten times and sent all ten Shuriken hurling at Hiro and the enemy.

"A suicide attack huh?" the man growled. The man waved with a motion of his hand and the sand around him and Hiro sprang up to form a small protective dome. All ten of the Shuriken stopped in there tracks as they hit the sand dome. The sand moved back to its original place, Hiro felt only momentarily defeated as his clone landed back on the ground. He then managed to kick the man off him and into the air.

Without hesitation and after sitting back long enough Neru blasted the man with a fire ball. At first it seemed like they had a solid victory but a small layer of sand drifted off every centimeter of the mans body. Neru picked up her blade and dashed in, Sharingan active, and jumped up with a rising vertical slash. The man twisted in the air and managed a parry, Neru's blade missed by a hair. The strange man proceeded to grab her blade and used it to pull himself closer toward her. He slammed both his feet down and she managed to form a cross arm block but had to relinquish her weapon. Neru was sent flying to the ground, sand molded around her. The man landed on his feet holding Neru's Ninja-toe in his hand. He walked over to her while she was attempting to stand up and placed the blade into her right shoulder, she screamed in pain and he laughed. It was not a fatal wound but it was just the first of many.

Hiro charged forward not sure of any other idea and knowing that this was not much of a plan. He leaped forward putting all his momentum into one punch. The man easily saw him coming and simply held out the blade attempting to spear Hiro.

Hiro blasted forward accepting his own fate and just hoping that he would knock the guy to hell with this final attack. He crashed forward his fist contacting with the mans forehead directly on. The blade of the sword and went right through Hiro similar to Neru's injury. The man fell back holding one hand up to his head in pain. Hiro looked down expecting to find blood and a serious wound but instead found nothing. The blade had somehow managed to phase through him. His mind played through the scenario over and over but he could not figure out how it happened then he heard some one speak

"Hey kid, that was close" a pained voice called from behind him. Hiro turned around to see Shirro standing behind him one of the last people he expected. His sensei seemed fine with the exception of a wound, the wound that Hiro himself should have just sustained. One thing popped into his mind and he asked it

"How?" Shirro replied

"I invented a Jutsu that allows me to connect to people through a chakra string and any wound you would inflict is instead inflicted upon the user" Shirro replied with a small hint of pain trailing his voice.

The man shook his head and stood up speaking

"Well isn't that nice, so you can be a human meat shield but that will not help you survive, and even though you survived my scorpion somehow it only makes me wanna kill you and these brats all the more" the man had a determined tone of voice.

"Hiro stand done this clown is mine now, you three did a good job but Sano and Neru could use some medical attention why don't you see to them" Shirro spoke loud and no longer had a pain in his voice but instead had confidence and maybe some small amount of sadistic pleasure in knowing he would exterminate this opponent. He cracked his neck then placed his hands into a upside down triangle, this put the other man on edge and he started to lift some sand up. Shirro just smiled and after a second of manipulating inner chakra lightning covered his hands jumping within the triangle, cracking the air, and next a bolt of lightning jumped out and toward the slender man. The man had managed to pull up a wall of sand but no amount of sand could stand against a powerful lightning element Jutsu.

A moment later the sand fell down and everyone saw the man clench at his stomach and keel over. Shirro approached wearily and after getting within a meter of him noticed that the man had an apple sized hole in his gut and was gonna die within seconds. And he did. He turned to scope out how Hiro was faring with the aid of his squad mates. Neru was fine but Sano had a few series cuts and bruises. Hiro had done a decent job with a little help from Neru Sano was patched up real well.

Hiro turned back to face his Sensei tears forming in his eyes

"I thought you were dead" he said as he wiped the tears away. Shirro just laughed and patted him on the head. Sensei Shirro had never seemed anything special to Hiro before now, he just wore standard Jonin gear: Vest, black under-suit, tool belt, short cut black hair, a slender face, light blue eyes, not to tall not to short. He had never used any kinda special Jutsu before and Hiro guessed he never really had to. But now he was special and proved himself not to be messed with.

Shirro turned and asked Neru

"Are you okay to move on? I am gonna have to carry Sano until he can get some medical attention from the Sand Village, oh and we should not mention what happened here as best we can as to not stir up trouble, we got no idea where this guy came from, for all we know he could be a rouge who travels this path often and robs people all the time." Neru responded

"I am fine" in a stern cold voice.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Team four had made it to Sunagakure, it took two extra hours and a lot of effort pacing for the wounded. Sunagakure was large and deep within a circular canyon. The wind whipped the sand up and around the village some how adding to the visual amazement team four was witnessing. They entered into the village through a small gap in the canyon walls followed by an escort of four Shinobi, Hiro assumed probably Chunin rank. It was probably standard security especially when Shinobi sporting other village headbands waltz into town. They walked slowly through the village taking in the entire scene one building at a time while they worked there way to the heart of the village. The majority of the houses were dome shaped and crafted out of stone or tall and cylindrical much different than the buildings in Kanoha. At the center of the village was the Kazekage's office a large cylindrical building probably six stories high. It was made out of the same stone and built with the same architecture as all the other buildings just more dressed up. At the entrance way was two stone statues standing tall, Hiro assumed replicas of the first Kazekage dressed in the long Kage robes and hat. There was a giant circular symbol above the archway displaying the symbol for Wind. There were small statues laced throughout the entire outside of the building. Hiro seamed to be more astounded then his other squad mates and as Shirro had mention he visited many times before and had seen it all before.

As they approached the large stone doors of the Kazekage's office they opened inward and were being pulled by two Shinobi dressed in white and brown tunics and wearing long draping face masks. The doors opened to reveal a large circular office space. There was a couple chairs and a service desk, off to the right was a staircase that rapped around the wall and led up to the next floor. They stepped out into the middle of the circular room and immediately someone wearing black attire and no face mask popped up and asked

"You are the representatives from Konohagakure we are to be expecting?" The man was tall lean, clean shaven, tan, and had short brown hair. Shirro turned to face him and replied

"Yes we are here to see the Kazekage, but first we need some medical attention for are comrade here" Hiro's heart skipped a beat, he knew they were to receive a message but directly from the Kazekage himself that was odd for a small team. The strange man spoke again in a calculative tone

"Of course, and mine name is Saris I will be accompanying you up to the top floor, the third floor has a small medical facility with a more than capable physician I am sure you will be satisfied." He bowed and turned around heading for the stairs. "Follow if you will" Saris said.

The stairs wrapped around the edge of the wall and at the top opened into another large circular room that had several people working at papers at desks. They walked directly across the room to another set of similar stairs. They got up to the third room and it was much different, only half the room was visible there was a wall separating the other half with only a single door, Hiro assumed it was the small medical facility. Saris walked over and knocked on the door, a second later the door opened to reveal an old man with a long aged beard and wearing all white, standard medical Shinobi clothing. Saris spoke to him in his low calculative voice "are guests have an injured companion can you take a look at it Tetsu?" the old man had a look on his face like he was thinking about weather or not to take the patient which Hiro thought was strange because he did not see or hear anyone else in the room. After a second of thinking the old man nodded his head and waved for the patient to come in. Shirro walked over and into the room and was back out again without Sano. Surprisingly the medic did not question the source of the wounds he just took Sano in and started his job. "Well now we can continue up the stairs just two more floors" Saris continued. They walked across the rest of the room and up the stairs. Hiro was watching his team, Sensei Shirro seemed cheerful as always, Neru was quiet and contemplative as usual. Hiro found himself watching her every move, in more ways than one, there was a part of him physically and emotionally that desired her and he was not sure how he truly felt about that. He shook his head free of thoughts and focused on the mission, he would have more than enough time to think later.

The floor between the medical floor and the Kazekage's office was just another bunch of desks and workers. They finally approached the fifth floor which opened into one big office with a wide window half the length of the room. The walls were lined with bookshelves, but was otherwise empty save the Kazekage's desk and chair. Saris stepped out, took a bow, and then said

"Kazekage Tensou the leaf village Shinobi" then he stepped to the right. Shirro took a few steps toward the Kage and both Hiro and Neru followed. The Kazekage stood up from his chair and reveal himself, and surprisingly he was showing a large smile. He was mid thirties, wearing the white ceremonial cloak and hat bearing the symbol of wind. He took off the hat revealing short accurately cut blonde hair. He stepped around the desk and Shirro walked to meet him, they clasped into a quick hug then the Kazekage held Shirro out at arms length, then said

"Shirro nice to see you friend" they both gave a light laugh then Shirro responded

"Likewise" Hiro could not help but crack a smile, he had expected the Kazekage to be kind of scary. Tensou looked over at Hiro and Neru then asked

"Wheres the third" Shirro stepped back then cleared his throat

"he is down in the medical room, we ran into a little trouble on the way here probably just a bandit". The Kazekage shook his head

"Well that crazy old man downstairs will patch him up good" Shirro nodded in agreement. "Well I suppose it is time to get down to business. Which one of you would like to be the barer of the information?" Hiro and Neru looked at one another confused. After a moment of silence Shirro spoke up

"he means that there going to seal information into you and no one will be able to retrieve it until the seal is broken by the one who placed it on and you will not know whats on it. When we get back someone will extract the information and then it will be unsealed." There was a moments hesitation then Hiro stepped forward saying

"I will sir". The Kazekage nodded then made a gesture then spoke

"Saris will set up the seal and I will plant the information, it will hurt and you will feel a pinch from a needle but otherwise you shall be fine."

"Yes sir" Saris said then walked over to Shirro and asked him "Are you ready it will only take a second" Hiro nodded, he felt fear creeping up on him and then quickly suppressed it, he could not show fear around Neru, and the Kazekage. Saris opened up his coat and pulled out a long silver Senbon. He stepped behind Hiro and poked it into the base of his neck, Hiro felt a pinch then some extreme pain, next he felt chakra ooze into him and it sent a chill down his spine. Then his mind went blank momentarily. "There it is complete, do not worry momentary memory loss is part of the seal" Hiro glanced a look at Shirro who gave him an its okay look. Hiro sighed. He looked over at Neru who had an expression of compassion, which meant she probably saw the pain and fear in him, he always felt that despite her Sharingan she could always pierce into him and his feelings. Shirro and Tensuo clasped hands and then Tensuo said "It was great to see you Shirro and your team, we have a place set up for you in the north east part of town its a tall gray building with a yellow banner". Neru and Hiro bowed then the four of them walked back down to the third floor where Sano was being held and after a few moments of waiting the doctor said he could leave with us but is still gonna have some pain. Sano limped out the room with a defeated look on his face, he was ashamed. After that they walked in silence down the stairs and out of the building then headed north east. After a while Hiro asked what was on almost everyone's mind

"So you and the Kazekage were friends?" Sano look amused being the only one who had no idea what happened in the Kage's office. Shirro took a moment then responded

"Yeah were the same age, I once fought against him in the Chunin exams, he is definitely powerful and skilled" Hiro grew a smile that was exiting to think about. Neru spoke up with a question of her own

"So doesn't it make you mad he is a Kage and you're just a Jonin?" There was silence for another moment then Shirro said

"Well he was always more political than me and I have never been very enthusiastic, so we took different paths." After that no one really spoke we all just thought to are selves and eventually found the gray building with the yellow banner. It was a hotel of great quality or at least Hiro thought so never actually being in a hotel kinda made it difficult to judge. As soon as they walked in a man at the desk came around and said

"Ah you must be the Kazekage's guests?" Shirro nodded. "Okay well here are your keys" he passed a key to each member of team four "Your rooms are prepared and I hope you enjoy" then he walked back off around the desk. There were only a few others in the lobby but no one that stood out. Team four just walked up the stairs and found each of there rooms on the second floor.


End file.
